Bloomington, Ill. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team improved to 2-0 on the season with a 34-31 win at 21st-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University Saturday afternoon at Tucci Stadium. The Titans, ranked 21st on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll, drop to 0-1 on the season. UWL is receiving votes on this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll.
Playing for the first time in the series since 2003, Illinois Wesleyan took the opening kickoff and drove 75 yards on 11 plays to take a 7-0 lead on Brandon Bauer's three-yard touchdown run with 9:57 left in the first quarter. Patrick Tata converted the extra-point. The teams traded punts on the next two possessions and then interceptions on the next two with UWL's Max Brower intercepting Bauer at the Illinois Wesleyan 29-yard line. UWL took advantage of the field possession as Jalen Clark scored on a two-yard run with :38 remaining in the first quarter. The Eagles went 29 yards in five plays.
Tate hit a 40-yard field goal with 9:05 left in the second quarter to give the Titans a 10-7 lead, but the Eagles responded with three scoring drives to end the half. Ben Schramski hit Dominic Labellarte with a pair of touchdown passes, connecting from 35-yards out with 6:23 left to give UWL a 14-10 lead. After recording back-to-back sacks and a 16-yard punt from Illinois Wesleyan, Schramski hit Labellarte on a 23-yard touchdown pass with 3:26 remaining to make it 21-10.
Illinois Wesleyan was forced to punt on its next drive and Ryan Beirne's field goal from 32-yards out on the final play of the first half gave UWL a 24-10 lead.
The Titans cut the lead to 24-16 with 3:57 remaining in the third quarter on Bauer's one-yard run, but his two-point attempt failed to keep it an eight-point game. Schramski quickly gave the Eagles a 31-16 advantage on the next drive as he scored on a 47-yard run with 1:19 left in the quarter.
Bauer hit Jack Healy on a three-yard touchdown pass with 12:48 remaining in the fourth quarter to make it 31-23 after Tata's extra-point. UWL was forced to punt on its next possession and Illinois Wesleyan went 68 yards in eight plays to force a 31-31 with 9:03 left after Bauer's seven-yard touchdown pass to Healy. Bauer's two-point pass attempt to Dean Zigulich tied the game.
Each team punted on its next two possessions before setting up UWL on its own 22-yard line with 2:13 remaining. The Eagles drove to the Titans' four-yard line with :02 left and after a timeout from each team, Beirne hit a 20-yard field goal on the final play of the game to give UWL the 34-31 lead. UWL went 74 yards in eight plays, highlighted by Schramski's 28-yard pass to Cole Spieker on the first drive of the game. Schramski went 3-for-4 on the drive for 45 yards while Austin Mancosky had 19 yards rushing.
UWL finished with 460 yards of offense Saturday, including 155 rushing and 305 passing. Schramski went 22-of-36 for 285 yards and two touchdowns with one interception while also rushing for 69 yards on nine carries and one touchdown. Mancosky had 57 yards on 12 attempts while Clark had 29 yards on 10 carries. Spieker (119 yards) and Labellarte (103) each had six receptions with Labellarte finishing with two touchdown catches.
The Eagles totaled 23 first downs while going five-of-13 on third-down. UWL was three-of-three in the red-zone.
Illinois Wesleyan totaled 407 yards, including 87 rushing and 320 passing. Bauer went 31-of-43 for 320 yards with two touchdowns and one interception while rushing for two touchdowns. Morgan Alexander had 64 yards rushing on 16 carries while Bryce Dooley had 120 yards receiving on 12 catches. Zach Walsh finished with 79 yards on six receptions while Healy had 56 yards on five catches and two touchdowns.
The Titans had 25 first downs while finishing six-of-13 on third-down. Illinois Wesleyan won the time of possession, 35:05 to 24:55.
Garrett Graf, Noah Schober and Colton Nieman led UWL with seven tackles each. Rusty Murphy had six tackles, including 2.0 for loss and 1.0 quarterback sack. Ryan Flathers also had 1.0 tackle for loss while Brower recorded the interception. Mike Connolly led Illinois Wesleyan with 10 tackles. Ryan Swift finished with eight tackles and an interception.
UWL returns to action Saturday, September 15 hosting Dickinson State University (N.D.) at 1 p.m. in the Eagles' home opener at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.
UW-La Crosse Earns Win at Nationally-Ranked Illinois Wesleyan
/seasons/2018/boxscores/20180908_kfrq.xml
2018
UW-La Crosse
34
Illinois Wesleyan
31
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UW-La Crosse (2-0) | 7 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 34 |
| No. 15 Illinois Wesleyan (0-1) | 7 | 3 | 6 | 15 | 31 |
Sep 08, 2018